Gingrich Rebuilds Staff, Focuses on Key Topics

Newt Gingrich has asked Greg Ganske, a former congressman who served in the house during his term as House Speaker, to serve as his first finance co-chair in Iowa.

This, and sticking to "niche" topics, seems to be part of Gingrich's efforts at starting over after a mass staff exodus, Politico reports.

Gingrich asked Ganske to serve during a tea party event in Indianola.

Gingrich is also targeting "niche" topics like Alzheimer's and the needs of military families as the way to secure votes come 2012, The Washington Post reported. And he's making appearances all over the mediascape for free.

At a private fundraiser last week in Newport Beach, Calif., Gingrich devoted much of his speech to Alzheimer's, the Post reported, to the delight of his audience, four of which were members of the Alzheimer's Association, Orange County chapter.

“This is great,” they later told Gingrich, according to an aide. “You get it!”

"By offering himself as a champion of pet causes, Gingrich believes he can sew together enough narrow constituencies to make a coalition — an unconventional one, yes, but a coalition nevertheless," wrote the Post. "In this living-off-the-land phase, as he struggles to regain financing and his footing in the evolving 2012 field, Gingrich is trying to find his voice. More often than not, it’s on Fox News Channel, where he promotes his ideas big and small, hoping that something might catch on."

Last week alone, Gingrich appeared at least three times on talk radio and three times on Fox, the same network he's appeared on before as a paid analyst.

Newt Gingrich has asked Greg Ganske, a former congressman who served in the house during his term as House Speaker, to serve as his first finance co-chair in Iowa.
This, and sticking to niche topics, seems to be part of Gingrich's efforts at starting over after...